Chapter 69: Ask Your Dao Heart
The group bolted from the Yin-Yang Venomgulf, their figures swallowed by the depths of the Gworm Abyss like moths fleeing a dying flame.
Back at the grotto cave they'd pierced, the air shuddered. A jagged rift tore through the stillness, and out stepped Miu Tyanh.
The Gworm Abyss wasn't just eerie—it was a living curse, a sprawling nightmare that twisted and writhed. A fickle demon of a realm, it reshaped its paths and mazes with every fool daring enough to trespass. Each breach birthed a fresh labyrinth—shadowed trails snaking into perilous hollows, as if the abyss delighted in mocking their mortal maps.
Miu Tyanh had launched himself here the moment the Fulu transmission hummed through his mind, a call to revenge. Yet even he couldn't pinpoint the trail Oen Shinae and her squad had taken—the abyss was too cunning, its routes shifting like whispers in the wind.
But that wouldn't stop him.
He closed his eyes, his breath curling like frost in the icy gloom. When they snapped open, crimson spilled from his sockets—twin embers of ghostly fire flaring in the dark. In his perspective, the ground quivered, unveiling a trail of footprints glowing faintly, as though etched by someone wading through a pool of blood.
"This leads... to the Lurewoven Grove?" His voice rasped, sharp as a blade dragged across bone. "The sect's laws are unyielding—when the Dao Flame blooms, only those registered for the inner task know its true hiding place."
He paused, head tilting like a predator scenting prey. "But the Lurewoven Grove loathes fire—its essence recoils from even the faintest spark, let alone the Ice Pith Fire. No, that can't be its cradle."
A smirk slashed across his lips, cold and cutting as a gravestone's edge. "Oh, Oen Shinae, you crafty little hare—thinking the grove's dreamscape will throw off the hounds snapping at your heels? Bold... but futile."
His grin widened, a glint of teeth flashing in the shadows. "Pity for her, I'm no ordinary hunter. The Lurewoven Grove? Hah! To me, it's a child's sandbox, nothing more."
In an instant, Miu Tyanh's form blurred into motion, a wraith streaking after the bloody footprints.